Trends in Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Agents and Panretinal Photocoagulation Use in Diabetic Retinopathy

Cost-effectiveness of the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor intravitreal injection and panretinal photocoagulation for patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy in South Korea

BACKGROUND

We determined the cost-effectiveness of the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) intravitreal injection versus panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) for patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in South Korea.

METHODS

We simulated four treatment strategies using PRP and the anti-VEGF injection by constructing a Markov model for a hypothetical cohort of 50-year-old PDR patients: (1) PRP only; (2) anti-VEGF injection only; (3) PRP first; and (4) anti-VEGF injection first.

RESULTS

In this cost-effectiveness analysis, compared with only-PRP, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $95,456 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) for PRP first, $34,375 per QALY for anti-VEGF injection first, and $33,405 per QALY for anti-VEGF injection only from a healthcare perspective. From the societal and payer perspective, strategy (2) was more cost-saving and effective than (1). In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, only-PRP was cost-effective up to the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of about $42,000, while anti-VEGF injection only was cost-effective from a healthcare perspective. From the societal and payer perspectives, regardless of the value of WTP, anti-VEGF injection only was the most cost-effective strategy.

CONCLUSION

In our study, the anti-VEGF injection for PDR was cost-effective from the payer and societal perspectives.

Panretinal photocoagulation after or prior to intravitreal conbercept injection for diabetic macular edema: a retrospective study

Background

Panretinal photocoagulation treatment (PRP) have been known as a standard treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) or severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (sNPDR). However, there is no consensus on when PRP should be administrated if anti-VEGF treatment is needed for the concurrent diabetic macular edema (DME). This study is to evaluate the difference between two groups of PRP prior to, or after intravitreal conbercept (IVC) for patients with PDR or sNPDR combined with DME.

Methods

This was a retrospective study. Fifty-eight eyes with DME secondary to PDR or sNPDR were divided into two groups; the PRP after (PRP-after group), or prior to (PRP-prior group), IVC. Changes in number of IVC injections, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and central subfield macular thickness (CSMT) were compared after 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 1 year, and 2 years from the first IVC injection.

Results

The mean number of injections in PRP-after group was 4.8 (1 year) and 6.4 (2 year), lower than 6.4 (1 year) and 8.5 (2 year) in PRP-prior group (both p = 0.002). There was no significant difference in change in BCVA and CSMT between two groups after each follow-up.

Conclusion

PRP after IVC requires less injections but also yields similar visual and anatomic outcome comparing with PRP prior to IVC in patients with diabetic retinopathy combined with DME.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-021-01920-8.